1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a computer implemented method and system for verifying and tracking sources of unsolicited electronic messages.
2. Related Art
Electronic systems and circuits have made a significant contribution towards the advancement of modern society and are utilized in a number of applications to achieve advantageous results. Numerous electronic technologies such as digital computers, calculators, audio devices, video equipment, and telephone systems have facilitated increased productivity and reduced costs in analyzing and communicating data in most areas of business, science, education and entertainment. These advantageous results are often realized through networked devices that enable information to be communicated between the devices. As organizations and individuals utilize increasingly distributed and open communication environments, the use of electronic messaging has increased substantially and become an important method of communication for many individuals and organizations. However, a number of organizations and individuals forward unsolicited messages addressed to recipients that have no desire to read the messages.
Electronic messaging, including electronic mail (e-mail) messages, provides a convenient and easy means for two or more individuals to communicate information in text messages, pictures, or almost any electronic file. Some organizations use electronic messaging as a bulk communication mechanism for distributing information to a mass audience. These messages are often unsolicited, unwanted and often referred to as “spam”. Spam activity can be extremely high and cover a wide variety of subjects. Given the diversity of subjects and the unsolicited nature of spam, most recipients have no desire to receive or read most of the spam messages. Further aggravating the situation is the large number of spam initiators and the fact that any given initiator may forward multiple messages. The large volume of messages usually produces a number of inconveniences for the recipients.
The typical high volume of e-mail messages usually requires a significant expenditure of resources to deal with the e-mails. Most e-mail messages are stored by default in a single electronic mailbox or folder until the recipient of the e-mail processes them individually. When the number of incoming messages is very large, the process of manually determining an appropriate action (e.g., opening or deleting an e-mail) consumes significant time and resources. Expending the time and resources on dealing with unwanted messages is usually wasteful and very aggravating.
In addition to being aggravating, communicating junk mail and spam usually occupy valuable communication resources. The amount of bandwidth that can be communicated on any given system at a particular time is usually limited. If a system is inundated with numerous spam and junk mail messages it can delay the communication of other important messages and adversely impact other processes.
Spam initiators have typically found ways to overcome or side step traditional attempts at preventing “spam” messages. Some traditional e-mail applications may attempt to have a recipient identify a message as spam and block future messages from the same address. This preventive measure has typically been easily overcome by spam initiators using misleading source identifications. For example, a spam initiator can include an erroneous of fake source internet protocol (IP) address as a source address in a communication header packet header. The task of accurately identifying sources of spam messages is even more difficult when a spam message includes a forged or “spoofed” address of a reputable host source and includes the address of the reputable source in the header of the spam e-mail.